Item: Amitayus Buddha - Amitayus

Amitayus Buddha (Tibetan: tse pag me, English: the Buddha of Immeasurable Life).

Sambhogakaya in form, youthful, red in colour and gazing forward he places the two hands in the lap in the mudra (gesture) of meditation supporting a long life vase. Adorned with a crown of gold and jewels, red ribbons, earrings, necklaces and bracelets. The shoulders are draped with a green scarf and the lower body wrapped in silks of various colours. With the legs folded in vajra posture, right over left, atop a moon disc and pink lotus blossom above a peacock supported throne, he is surrounded by a blue-orange nimbus and a dark green aureola.

Arranged in rows and alternating are the two main forms of the bodhisattva Tara. Green Tara is dark in colour, with the right hand extended in the mudra of generosity and the left at the heart holds the stem of a lotus flower blossoming at the left ear. The right leg is pendant and the left drawn up. White Tara is fair in complexion, with the hands performing the same gestures. The legs are folded in vajra posture. (See Vairochana from the same series).

Jeff Watt 2-2000